A wide variety of poker-type games are known in the gaming industry including such games played at casinos. The people who gamble at casinos can vary widely in their skill level ranging from serious poker players who may play the game for competitive, compensatory, and even professional reasons to casual gamblers who are seeking primarily entertainment as a result of game participation. Casual players seeking entertainment usually do not wish to commit a high level of concentration and mental activity to the game. It is generally felt important for casinos and other professional gaming facilities to provide games which appeal to both serious players as well as more casual players. Current poker games played in casinos or other gaming establishments with cards require the use of a banker provided by the casino, this banker usually acting as a dealer or a croupier. Generally, poker players will play against other players while the casino manages the game by means of the banker and collects a commission fee at each round of the game. Poker games that are played against the dealer or banker or against other players can be intimidating to many patrons of the casino.
In many poker games both the players' cards and a dealer's cards are dealt face down in order to prevent the passing of information from one participant to another. Passing information from the dealer to the players or among the players themselves can affect the fairness, honesty and integrity of the game.
Many current poker games require participants after they are given the chance to examine their initial set of cards to make a decision on whether or not to stay in the game or to fold and lose the initial wager. In order to make a proper decision, each player needs to know and understand the strategy and rules of the game. Casual players who are not particularly familiar with the rules of the game or players involved in a poker game that has complex rules may find it difficult to make a wise decision.
Many current poker games require the players to make a decision after each stage of the game or after each card is dealt in the round. This decision may be to withdraw the placed wager or not or to place an additional wager to stay in the card game. Many card poker games have a limit on the additional wagers that a player can place when a decision to stay in the game is made. Often the additional wager is equal to or double the wager the player has initially risked. To make a good decision, the player may need to know the following:
(a) whether or not an additional wager is possible at that stage;
(b) an understanding of the strategy of the particular game; and
(c) the statistics and odds of the game for particular poker hands that may be winning hands.
In many current poker games the winner or winners of each round of the game are decided only once and on a fixed number of cards, for example three, four or five cards, with or without community cards. This can be the case even in a poker game where a partial hand is provided to each player after an initial wager and the actual hand of poker involves the potential for one, two or more cards to each player or potential community cards. Also, in most known poker games it is important for each player to know and understand the ranking of poker hands.
Some multi-staged poker games played in casinos are taught in the patent literature.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,550 to Awada describes a stud poker game for a casino wherein a player can make three wagers against the casino. The first of the three wagers is resolved by dealing a first card face up and placing it within a first of three rectangular indicia on a playing surface. If the first card is a nine or higher, the player wins the first wager. The second of the three wagers is resolved by dealing a second card face up and placing it within a second of three card areas on the table. When the second card is a nine or higher or the first and second cards are any pair from two's to eight's, the player wins a second wager. The third of the three wagers is resolved by dealing three additional cards face up and placing them within a third card receiving area on the table, thus providing the player with a five card poker hand. Any payout to the player based on the third wager is in accordance with a payout schedule.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,575,467 to Kal describes a multi-staged poker game that can be played with a conventional deck of cards with a different wild card designated at each stage. A wager is placed and a hand of cards is dealt to each player at each stage. The cards dealt to each player in previous stages become part of that player's hand at each subsequent stage. A winning hand of cards is determined at each stage by comparing the player's hand including any wild cards to a schedule of winning card combinations and an odds schedule. In this poker-type game each player may be required to ante an additional wager after the cards are dealt at each stage as a condition for continued play within that stage and within the round. In variations of this game a community card can be part of all the players' hands of cards for a particular stage and the dealer can also be dealt a hand of cards at each stage.
Despite the existence of these prior poker games, there remains a need for a poker-style game with simplified wagering structure and dealing procedures and also a card game that has playing integrity while allowing wagering options that add to the interest of the game.